Rosenberg police live tweets traffic stops for a night

One of the best parts of Sesame Street was when they would show us kids what certain careers entailed. Even the ones that as adults we may now see as boring. The guy at the bread factory threw in the extra yeast just so into whirring machine full of dough, and the jaunty music added a bit of whimsy. Airplane pilots looked damned heroic, even flying from Atlanta to Jacksonville.

They even released a trailer for the evening on Facebook, with Skrillex playing on it. At least I think it was Skrillex.

“We’re trying to tear down barriers between the department and the community,” said assistant chief of police Dallis Warren. “The feedback from the public has been fantastic.”

They have one of the most popular police department Facebook pages on the social media site. About a year ago they started looking into going to social media to reach as many people as they could.

“We’ve gotten tons of information to solve crimes and help investigations, too,” said Warren. “We’re hoping to prevent crimes, too.”

There were no shootings, stabbings, car chases, or Cops-friendly domestic disputes involved on this “tweetalong,” but what we did get to see was how thankfully quiet some shifts can be for officers. It’s a pretty progressive move for a police department. Rosenberg PD even has its own YouTube channel. Wanna see some hoodlums rob a tractor shop? They’ve also released videos about their intake process.

Warren adds that to his knowledge there are only three other police departments doing these sort of social media engagements. Dallas, Arlington and a department in Palo Alto, Calif., have also brought the public along for virtual beats.

Why can’t the Houston Police Department do the same? Imagine the intrigue. The upheaval.

Officers Roy and Brady were this month’s spotlighted cops, and they seemed like good sports as they were joined by a guest who took photos along the way. Some of the pictures even had Instagram filters on them, you know, to show the artier side of law enforcement. I still cannot find the face pixelation filter on my phone.

Warren says that Detectives John Rivera and Danielle Delgado were doing the tweeting along the way.

In the downtime between hard-hitting police action, the Twitter feed instead showed the mugshots of some of Rosenberg’s most wanted. Can you imagine getting busted because someone retweeted your picture? Bummer.

“Our posts help get the word out so people in the community can be on the lookout for criminals,” said Warren. “I’ve sent reporters to our Twitter and Facebook feeds to get press releases and pictures out into the public.”

There were a few stops for minor traffic infractions, a guy with a warrant got hauled in, plus a few special guests showed up, like Officer Flores from a past tweetalong. There was a structure fire at one point, but nothing juicy went down. No kittens or puppies got heroically pulled a burning building. No Twitter magic was made.

“Each tweetalong we gain about 100 followers on Twitter,” says Warren. “We’re glad people are having fun with it.”

It wasn’t as flavorful — or fragrant — as a real ride-along with cops on the crime beat, but at least now I know that if I get pulled over in Rosenberg I could get a nice shout-out on Twitter while I’m headed in to jail.

4 Responses

Will this tour include a stop at the 59 Dinner? The other morning at 5 am there were 7 police cars there having breakfast. I know they get a break but that’s a lot of cars off of patrol at one time. Taxpayer’s dollars at work (or not!)

I betcha they don’t show the public when they administer beatings, intimidation and engage in corruption. Just YOU try filming a police officer in action. You’ll be lucky to escape with all your teeth intact.